The Luthor Family: Crime, Mad Science, and the Presidency
The Luthor administration remains a controversial period in American history. From his election to the Presidency in 1968 to his dramatic exit in 1974, President Harry Luthor changed America. His admirers point to his spectacular record of accomplishments: opening up relations with China, launching humanity's first starship, and largely ending the urban warfare of super-villain vs. super-hero that marred much of the 1960's. His detractors point to his many constitutionally shaky power grabs, the brutal use of militarized super-science in Vietnam, and of course the fact that he was using the Presidency as a launching pad for world domination. To truly understand the events of the Luthor administration, it's necessary to go back to the life of Harry Luthor's father, Norman Luthor. While overshadowed by his son, Norman was also a fascinating and consequential figure. He was one of the earliest science-criminals, what would eventually be known as super-villains. Starting in the 1920's Norman used his scientific genius to steal and cheat his way into millions. However, unlike his less foresighted cohorts, Norman did not blow his gains solely on larger and better equipment to help him steal still more. Instead, he started a legitimate business, Luthorcorp, which allowed him to gradually retire from getting his own hands dirty. By the time the Super-Spider started cleaning up New York's super-villains in 1938 Norman was safely ensconced in his profitable and mostly legitimate business. A few hired goons may have been webbed and left hanging from lampposts, but Norman himself was safe from direct attack. However, Norman had an additional connection to the Super-Spider that he was unaware of. Peter Kent, the Super-Spider's alter ego, was a classmate of Harry's. The two bonded at school because of their self-imposed separation from the rest of the student body. While Peter had been popular in Smallville, in New York he played down his outgoing personality and physical prowess to help hide his secret identity. In the nerdy social seclusion that resulted, he found Harry Luthor, who was separated from his classmates by his wealth, the whispered controversies about his father, and his own genius intellect that led him to view his less intelligent classmates with contempt. The third member of this little group was Pete Ross, who would go on to have his own very impressive career as a pioneer in anti-superhuman warfare. Not in the group was the other future celebrity in the class, track star Barry “Flash” Thompson. Young Peter and Harry bonded in their school's science lab, and eventually in the much nicer lab Norman provided for their use at his company's building. While Norman was never what you could call a particularly loving father, and generally quite harsh with Harry, he was very encouraging of his son's scientific pursuits, and always claimed that his harshness was simply designed to toughen Harry up and propel him towards greatness. In several interviews later in life Harry would claim to appreciate these sentiments, though generally bracketed with an off the record “the old bastard.” The breaking point of Peter and Harry's relationship was surprisingly mundane for such remarkable young men. In 1942, just after graduation, Peter went off to war – supposedly as a photographer, but actually in his role as the Super-Spider. Harry meanwhile, with no interest in putting himself in harm's way for something as petty as nationalism, used his father's influence to avoid conscription, and sat out the war at Columbia – emerging with several doctorates by 1945. By the time the war ended and Peter returned Harry was a different person. Over the course of his studies he had learned to turn his genius not just towards science, but towards manipulating people, and had already put himself on the track that would lead him to the Presidency. Besides a few perfunctory meetings, the two barely saw each other until 1948, when they both had front row seats to the death of Norman Luthor. During the height of WWII, Norman involved himself in the super-soldier program, making a mint researching how to turn people into weapons for the government. As one of the few survivors of the attack on the day of American Wonder's creation, he found himself in a unique position. He managed to salvage what there was of Dr. Erskine's notes, and rather than report what he had to the government, he simply took it back to Luthorcorp where he could study it and patent his findings in peace. Unfortunately for Luthor he did not manage to reproduce the results of the Amazon device before the war had come to a close, and it was the super-soldier program's perennial rival for funding, the Manhattan Project, that was hailed as a war ending weapon. Convinced of the potential of what he had, Norman continued anyway, even as his company began to lose money over his obsession. Finally in 1947 Norman had what looked to be a workable formula. Unfortunately, what he did not have was anyone to test it on. Private super-soldier research was strictly illegal by this point, and even Norman could see the downside of testing a formula designed to give someone super-powers on an unwilling subject. Finally, in desperation Norman tested his formula on himself. He had managed to avoid most of the pitfalls of the original device. The physical aspects worked perfectly, raising Norman's strength, durability, and reaction time to super-human levels. Mentally, results were more mixed. If anything the serum enhanced Norman's intelligence, but it also enhanced his mental instability – making him increasingly reckless, arrogant, and dangerous to both himself and those around him. Soon after his transformation, Norman began to long for his old science-criminal days. Taking equipment from the Luthorcorp labs, he began a reign of terror in New York that would last over a year. First he directed his aggression towards hostile members of the board at Luthorcorp and rival companies, shoring up his support at home and crippling his rivals. Then he began a systematic takeover of as much of the city's criminal underworld as he could get his hands on, imagining himself a king, or even a god, in control of all aspects of his city. Of course Super-Spider was there to protect his city. At this point in Super-Spider's powers development, Norman was able to get head to head with the hero armed with his own enhancements and vast military grade weapons arsenal. While by the 1960's super-humans fighting in the skies above the city became practically routine, in 1947 no one had seen anything like it and the news of their battles was on the front pages of newspapers all of the world. Finally though, the conflict had to end. No one knows quite what happened that night at the Luthor mansion. All people can really agree on is that Super-Spider, Norman Luthor, and Harry Luthor were all there, and that the mansion burned to the ground. The first theory is that the battle between Super-Spider and Norman Luthor reached its conclusion with Super-Spider pursuing Norman to his home, and ultimately fighting to the death. This is the story reported by Harry Luthor, in which he was just an innocent bystander to the battle that killed his father. The second theory is that Harry himself was responsible for his father's death. It seems unlikely that the smartest man alive would manage to miss the fact that his own father was flying around the city in a mask, killing people. In this view Harry, possibly taking advantage of a fight between his father and Super-Spider, trapped Norman in the mansion and torched the building. By eliminating his father Harry turned a potential obstacle to his political ambitions (having a super-villain as a father really doesn't play well) into a reason for people to pity him, and allowed Harry to take full control of Luthorcorp through the shares he inherited from his father, and additional shares bought with the proceeds of generous insurance policies on the mansion and Norman's life. The third theory, that Norman is still alive and out there, is not given much credence, despite the occasional sighting. However it happened, we all know Harry took over Luthorcorp in 1948, and quickly propelled the company to new heights of success. America was booming, and Harry did everything he could to project an image of Luthorcorp as an All-American company, including coining the famous phrase “What's good for Luthorcorp is good for America.” Of course Harry had no compunctions about continuing his father's shady business practices on the side, but he generally lived by the maxim that rather than break the laws, you should simply change them so whatever you want to do is legal. While Super-Spider grew gradually more suspicious of his old friend, there was not nearly enough hard evidence to throw the CEO of one of America's most profitable corporations in jail, and so Super-Spider found himself fighting at the margins of Luthor's operation, rather than the largely legal core of his power base. As he progressed into the 1960's and approached the age at which he could seek the Presidency, Luthor began to put his plans into action. Throughout this period a number of potential political rivals or obstacles for Luthor, from John and Robert Kennedy, to Martin Luther King to Richard Nixon, to Malcolm X were assassinated. While no one suspected anything at the time, later investigations produced significant (though circumstantial, as Luthor apologists frequently insist) evidence that Luthor was involved in some or all of those deaths. There is also evidence that he sabotaged the peace talks between North and South Vietnam in order to discredit the Johnson administration and Democrats generally, prolonging the war and costing tens of thousands of lives. What we do know is that by 1968 the country was in chaos. We were at war with no end in sight, and the streets were being torn up by peace protests, civil rights marches, mutant rights marches, and of course super-villains out literally tearing up the streets. Luthor portrayed himself as an American success story, who had survived tragedy as a young man, and who could provide the steady hand needed to bring the country back under control. He secured the Republican nomination easily, particularly after his main opponent, George Romney, claimed to have been 'brain-washed' or 'hypnotized' into taking an unpopular position on the war (like many seeming coincidences that brought Luthor to power, these claims may warrant further study). He chose his old friend General Peter 'Thunderbolt' Ross, as Vice-President. Ross had spent much of the past decade in command of the 'Hulkbuster' unit tasked to capture or contain the Green Hulk. While he ultimately failed in that mission, the technologies and methods he developed for fighting a super-powered enemy proved very effective against other threats. The Democrats, again partially helped along by Luthor, had a vicious and divisive nominating convention, and were in no shape to put up the fight they needed to. Ultimately Luthor won the Presidency with 301 electoral votes, making this 45 year old billionaire from Queens the most powerful man on Earth. Upon ascending to the Presidency, Luthor's first priority was to bring the nation's super-humans under control. Science-police divisions were set up in all major American cities, armed with Hulkbuster tested Luthorcorp weaponry, and ordered to shoot to kill in the event of a super-villain attack. Meanwhile, the super-heroes connected to the government were given new orders: they were to be deployed in Vietnam. This decree started the great rift in the formerly cozy relationship between the American government and the world's super-heroes. One after another heroes and heroic organizations declared themselves to be citizens of the world, who would not participate in American wars. The League of Avengers, the Challengers of the Fantastic, Roboboy, American Wonder, and more all broke ties with the government during the Luthor administration. Still, there were enough super-humans still on Luthor's side to change the tenor of the Vietnam War. Most famously, Captain Manhattan, who had long been considered an American weapon on the level of the atom bomb, was unleashed in North Vietnam. In addition to super-heroes, Luthor intervened in the war with a bewildering array of new technology, from the first generation of armed unmanned drones, to the first successful large scale inoculation of soldiers with super-soldier serum based on an expansion of his father's work decades ago (successful in that they did produce usable super-soldiers, not in that there were not... consequences for the soldiers treated). In the end however, none of this was enough for Luthor to turn the tide in Vietnam. The enemy was used to a never-ending barrage of death from above from a technologically superior enemy – what difference did it makes that now it was being fired from robots and giant glowing guys in addition to jets and helicopters? Apologists claim that we would have won had we just stayed in for longer, but Luthor eventually decided to cut his losses and seek a 'peace with honor' with the Vietnamese. They were never that important to his plans anyway. Meanwhile, Luthor had the honor of presiding over the launch of mankind's first faster than light interstellar craft, the Apollo, in 1969. The culmination of the space race between the US and USSR, the Apollo and its crew of twelve astronauts would travel to the Alpha Centauri system in only one and a half years, moving at nearly triple the speed of light through use of an Alcubierre warp drive. It would arrive in the system, spend a year surveying everything it could find, and return to Earth by 1972. While the trip made news and was generally considered an enormous success, it was also the last of its kind. Launching a crewed interstellar ship with enough power to operate independently for years was a fantastic undertaking, and did not come close to being profitable. While the voyage was certainly a giant leap for our understanding of our closest stellar neighbors, it proved more efficient to simply launch FTL probes to surrounding star systems, and to the present day the only humans to leave the solar system under their own power are those twelve astronauts who were on the Apollo. Meanwhile, Luthor moved forward on other fronts. In 1972, in a deal brokered by an old (very old) ally of his father's known principally as the Mandarin, Luthor went on a state visit to China, opening up contact between the Communist Chinese and the United States for the first time in decades. Like many of Luthor's actions as President it's unclear to what extent this was an alliance between two super-villains, some step in a long term plan, or a genuine move towards a saner and more effective American policy. Luthor may have been evil, but he was definitely not stupid, and after all isn't what's good for America also good for Luthorcorp? By 1974, Luthor had been re-elected by a landslide and seemed to be cruising towards a historically successful Presidency. However, just being President had never been Luthor's goal. Instead, in his hubris, he attempted to make a deal with the Galactiac Entity – the same entity that had destroyed Krypton all those years ago. Luthor would assist Galactiac in destroying their common enemy, Super-Spider, and would give it all the information it desired on human and Martian civilization. In return, it would assist Luthor with the technology and muscle he needed to take complete control over the solar system. Unfortunately for Luthor Galactiac was not to be trusted, and having received the information it needed from Luthor, began an attack on planet Earth. This attack was attack was ultimately thwarted by the combined efforts of the Super-Spider and the Challengers of the Fantastic, and Luthor was left in the fight of his political life. The most famous band of investigative reporters in history, Woodward, Kent, Bernstein, and Lane, published a story exposing Luthor's complicity with the attack that had so nearly destroyed the planet. Soon proceedings were underway to impeach Luthor and try him for war crimes. Luthor vowed to fight these charges with all his might, and sources from within the administration claimed that he was preparing to hold onto the Presidency by force if necessary. In the end it all came down to a confrontation between the two old friends, President Luthor and Super-Spider. Super-Spider arrived at the White House with a small cadre of Avengers, and after forcing his way through several layers of secret service agents, confronted Luthor in the oval office. He simply told him that he had two options: resign peacefully and go about his business, or be removed from office right here, right now. Unknown to the general public, Super-Spider's old friend from Smallville, Lana Stacy, had died in Galactiac's assault while Super-Spider was busy saving the world. Luthor, smart guy that he was, saw the rage (and heat beams) in the hero's eyes, and decided to get out while he had the chance. After Luthor's resignation Pete Ross assumed the Presidency, and in a move that likely cost him the 1976 election, pardoned his former boss. Harry went back to Luthorcorp and continued scheming, but now the world was watching, and all the special favors and shady operations that had made Luthorcorp so successful started to dry up or be shut down. Meanwhile, the public's trust in authority went into a nosedive. Obviously if an actual super-villain could get himself elected President our government couldn't be trusted, and while Super-Spider had saved us this time, it wasn't exactly comforting to know that an alien vigilante and his army of super-humans were essentially the dominant power in the country.